A Matter of Relativity
by SoulOfAFangirl684
Summary: Inojin and Chocho's first introduction to Shikadai's Sand cousins isn't quite what either of them expected...


**I've wanted to write a little something about Shikadai and his Sand family being soft with each other for a while… I just finally sat down and wrote it. Perhaps this mushiness is the holiday season's effect on me.**

**You'll notice some places this strays from being strictly canon. Like Gaara, Kankuro, and the new Sand Sibs all arriving together before the exams have even begun… Or Gaara having adopted all three members of Team Shinki in my headcanon—and at a much younger age, too. One day I'll write that story… But for now, have this one-shot!**

**A Matter of Relativity**

The day all the other teams arrived in the village for the chunin exams was a strange one for Team Ten. There was an air of festivity down every single street. So much so that even the participants were starting to forget that it was a potentially brutal competition they were facing. But some things remained.

Team Ten—already bound by sixteen previous generations—had been spending even more time together than usual. All the teams—except perhaps Team Seven, what with Boruto's lack of enthusiasm—had been especially joined at the hip leading up to this test. For some, this felt like their first _real_ mission, with no hope of a sensei coming to rescue them if things got tough. They would only have each other to rely on.

But this prolonged era of peace had put its own spin on these events. All the villages took the exams together these days, indicative of better relations and how much easier communication had become. The competition was purely friendly.

The three were out for lunch, watching the welcome banners going up over nearly every doorway down the street below them. But only about half their meal had been consumed when Shikadai stood up from the table. The other two looked up blankly, their usual rhythm disrupted. "I'll catch up with you two later, okay?"

Chocho and Inojin were already at either side of him, the rest of their food in their hands by the time he'd turned to go. Chocho took another bite of her burger. Inojin asked, "Where are we going?"

Shikadai blinked. "Uh… _I'm_ going to the station to meet my mom. My uncles' train should be arriving soon. You guys don't have to come."

But the other two didn't budge. They looked at each other and then Shikadai and just shrugged. It would feel wrong to be out of each other's company right now. So Shikadai shrugged too and they set off as a team once more.

Inojin had to admit he was curious, too. To Shikadai, it was the most ordinary thing in the world that he was the Kazekage's nephew. In fact, now that relations were so stable between countries, the leader of Sunagakure made a point to journey to the Leaf Village a few times a year just to visit family, no official business involved. And, of course, Shikadai and his parents made the opposite journey a few times throughout the year as well.

And yet, his team mates had never met his Suna relatives. They knew Shikadai _had_ cousins… Most of the world did, in fact. The Kazekage was lowkey famous for adopting not one, but three of his village's lost souls. (Not that he wasn't well-regarded already. It just set a great example for the worldwide orphanage system reforms that had taken place after the war's end.) But they had never set eyes on them, and Shikadai wasn't the most talkative person on his best days. The few times one of them had asked, he'd just shrugged. The impression they'd gotten was that the three had had rough childhoods but were firmly focused on the future.

Now, standing a little apart from the Naras so as not to seem intrusive, he could see the curiosity in Chocho's eyes as well. Her munching had picked up speed, and she frowned upon realizing she'd finished the last of her carton of fries. Inojin smiled wryly and wordlessly handed over the rest of his.

They both shifted a little when the train finally pulled up. The station had never been so quiet. Almost all other transportation had been halted for the day, what with all but one of the Kage in transit. This order was not met without resistance, but it was a safety precaution none of their guards were willing to overlook.

When the doors slid open, Gaara was the first to step out, adorned in all his official Kazekage attire. But the hat came off the moment his family came into view, his smile widening into something more genuine. He moved immediately to greet his sister and nephew, and the remaining members of Team Ten found their eyes drawn to the next trio of people departing the train.

Past knowledge and their short stature let on to the fact that these three were the same age as the three from Konoha, but a glance from Chocho confirmed that they both thought the newcomers looked a little… intimidating. They certainly fit each other's company, at least.

Inojin wasn't sure which one drew his eyes the most. The boy in front with the serious expression surrounded by… was that black sand? (And they were definitely bigger on the face paint over in the desert.) But he barely had time to take in the little details before his attention was grabbed by the next boy, whose face was completely concealed by an eerie mask. Inojin took note of the sword attached to the masked boy's back and felt those inklings of competitiveness returning to him… but only briefly as his gaze swung to the final member of the Sand trio. The girl looked to be the plainest in appearance at first glance. She had the hood of her jacket pulled up, a swath of blond hair hiding much of the rest of her face, and he could spot only minimal paint outlining her eyes. But upon closer inspection, there was something distinctly… aggressive about the slouch to her stance, the sharpness of her eyes, and the headphones that remained stubbornly planted in her ears.

Chocho's initial impression seemed to have turned up the same results—Shikadai's cousins seemed to have the attitudes of a bunch of junior thugs. His team mate's movements had slowed; she'd made stiff eye contact with the blond girl. He was about the break the silence with some comment about how they closer resembled a punk band than a ninja team… when Shikadai separated from greeting his uncle, stepped forward, and wrapped each of them in a hug as well.

It effectively broke the intensity of the stare-down they were having. They'd forgotten, temporarily, that they were here to welcome their friend's family and not to scope out their new rivals. The sight was still a little strange, but the expressions on the Sand kids' faces had all softened out, (although this was harder to see on the one with the mask, but his posture had relaxed) and they each returned the gesture without any notable reluctance. This whole exchange hadn't actually taken that long. A second later, Shikadai's other uncle was stepping off the train, looking perhaps the sketchiest of all…

As Kankuro moved to reconnect with his sister as well, Shikadai made his way back over. _They'd_ been the ones standing off to the side, staring at his reunion with his relatives, but Shikadai was the one who looked a little awkward. Inojin got the feeling he'd forgotten they were watching.

"You guys seem close," he commented.

"Yeah… The hugging thing is something Uncle Gaara started." His lips quirked up. "He even greets my dad that way. He started reading all these child psychology books when he adopted Shinki… I guess they really emphasized physical affection."

Inojin smiled, exhaling a tiny huff of laughter. "Sounds just like _my_ dad."

They both looked over to Chocho for her reaction… only to see that she'd already gone over to introduce herself. Even Shikadai looked a little uncertain as the two girls stared each other down for a second of silence. But finally, Chocho offered the other girl one of her few remaining fries, Yodo apparently having met her approval. The boys relaxed and went back to rejoin the welcome party.

**…**

Dinner was also… interesting. Curiosity had driven Shikadai's team mates to take him up on his almost obligatory offer to join them. It wasn't at all strange for the members of Team Ten to eat over at each other's houses or spend time with each other's families, but there was rarely a situation like this one. Shikadai was the only member of the trio to have two intact sides to his family. Sai and Karui had had no living relatives to speak of and had been essentially swallowed up by the clans they'd married into. Ino-Shika-Cho had always been a single, all-encompassing unit. Except for now, when it suddenly wasn't.

"Interesting that the Kazekage wouldn't have a fancier welcome celebration," Inojin commented in his usual blithe way.

"Interesting that you felt comfortable inviting yourself to a family dinner," Araya shot back at once. But there was no venom there. It was spoken in _his_ usual manner—quick but quiet. And, even behind a mask, he dropped his gaze as soon as Inojin turned that smile directly on him. If he didn't know any better, he'd say the intimidating-looking boy was _shy_.

Though they were sitting at the same table, there had already been a clear separation between the children and the adults. Gaara looked over now with a soft smile, unconcerned by the minor squabbling. "I prefer a quieter affair anyway. Moments like these are more precious to me than any grand announcement."

This was met with almost absentminded nodding. It was a testament enough to how strange this day had become that Chocho and Inojin were seated around the dinner table with the Kazekage himself and they were most interested in his children. Chocho followed this up with, "Besides, we _are_ family."

"Really?" Shinki asked, directing this at Shikadai…

…who just shrugged with a fond smile on his face. "Basically. We share everything _but_ genetics."

There was a moment where the three adopted siblings all glanced around at each other. At last, Yodo smirked. (They'd realized by now that her default smile _was_ a smirk.) "Yeah. I feel that."

The rest of their night passed smoothly, any remaining walls breaking down effortlessly. They went a little deeper into the three clans' shared history. Some of which they'd already heard from previous visits to their cousin's home, but most of which they'd honestly never taken much interest in until Shikadai's_ other_ chosen cousins were staring them in the face. In return, the Sand Siblings didn't spare any details about their home and the journey here.

It was comfortable—far more comfortable than any of them would have expected back at the train station. In truth, this family was not quite so chosen either—not by their own hands, at least. But sitting around this table with this odd mish-mash of not-quite-teens, it certainly _felt _like they were together by choice.

As Inojin reflected on this day, he supposed it had awarded him… perspective. If he'd been a part of any other team, these three would have just been another trio of rivals, if a particularly formidable one. For Shikadai, if the chunin exams weren't going on, they would've just been his cousins who happened to live in another land.

It was hard to find the words to describe the feeling this gathering evoked in them all, but Inojin thought he got it. It was something his parents had been trying to instill in him his whole life—something he'd never before been able to truly appreciate, growing up in this era.

Effortless new friendships formed amongst people of such vastly different interests and experiences… It felt like peace.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

…**Or I suppose I'm technically writing for Boruto this time around… I believe this one-shot marks the first time I used the words 'Sand Siblings' to refer to the younger generation and not Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. …And I'm honestly kind of annoyed that the kids didn't at least get their own team numbers. (Do you have any idea how many times I went back to double-check that? ^^' It was just this pervasive doubt, like, they ARE Team Ten also, right?) **


End file.
